Hurray, It's Switch Day!
by Jawira707
Summary: When one of Max's experiments goes wrong, he and his twin sister are faced with a whole lot of never known problems. Will it bring them closer together...or maybe not so close would be better rigt now? Read and find out! (written for season 3, but no major spoilers). Now completed!
1. Prologue: A scientist's mistake

Prologue: A scientist's mistake

"Max!" Phoebe shouted while running down the stairs knowing her brother wouldn't bother to answer. Normally, she thought, this would just be annoying, but this time..damn, it could be dangerous for real!

"Stop whatever you doing!" And for a moment the boy seemed to notice her concern, seemed to stop in his- in her opinion- thoughtless action. The two vials in his hands were still filled with the golden and bright green liquid and to her relief he seemed unharmed.

"God, Max, you know these belong to dad! He told us to never,ever use one of them without his permission!"

Max relaxed at her words, a smile spreading on his lips. "Yeah...and we should brush or teeth, come home early and don't make villains our friends." He winked at Colosso at this comment.

" Think sharply, Phoebe, did I ever care?"

Popping open the vials with his thumbs, he shook his head in amusement.

"Max, I'm not joking! You don't know what you're doing!"

She approached him quickly grabbing his arms, but some drops of the content had already slipped out, falling down in the bowl with a soft thud.

And suddenly everyhing happened really quick.

"Look what you have done!" her brother shouted while colourful clouds of smoke filled the room making it hard to gain orientation. "Me!?" Phoebe exclaimed angrily. How was that possibly her fault?

"Shut up... don't breath it in!" Max himself sounded alarmed now, seeing the dimension of what in his calculation should have been a small chemical reaction. "What?" Phoebe asked coughing, but her brother didn't answer. And before she could think of anything, everything suddenly went black.

"Gosh...what happened?" Phoebe mumbled as she slowly gained consciousness. The weird smoke was gone, but she still felt strange...like something inside her had changed.

"Max!?" she called out unable to spot her brother. But maybe that was because her sight was still kinda blurred. Annoyed she lifted her hands to rub her eyes, flinching in surprise as her fingers made contact with something hard. What's that?, she thought, carefully removing the obstacle from her face. It were simple protective goggles, just like Max wore them all the time...

"How weird...I don't remember putting them on." While speaking her eyes widened in shock. Even her voice sounded different. Getting a bit worried now Phoebe pushed herself up.

She observed the room, but she couldn't make out any difference and having the bad feeling that the change was to search somewhere else, she reached out for the mirror on her brother's night stand. What she saw nearly made her faint again.

"Okay, please don't freak out", she heard her own voice behind her, but couldn't bring herself to turn around.

Her eyes were fixed on the boy in the mirror who stared back at her with a scared expression.

"M-max..please tell me that this explosion somehow managed to lock you behind the glass, cause i-if not...then..."

The scream she had surpressed during the last minute finally left her lips showing that, yes, she was freaking out completly!

"Oh, thank you for you wish...and your girly screaming..." Max said annoyed.

Meanwhile Phoebe's hands were hastily tracing her...his body, feeling the muscels of her arms and stomach, her legs...

"Phoebe!" Max finally exclaimed, "yeah, we changed bodies, yeah, this is weird, but - I won't tell you twice- stop touching my body!"

Phoebe froze in her actions and turned around, letting out a cry as she saw herself looking at her. "This must be a joke!"

Furious she approached her brother. "How is this possible!?"

Just then a chuckle which soon turned into endless laughter could be heard in the background. "This is so funny! Especially, because it happened to you two!" Colosso exclaimed, moving his ears in amusement while earning a reproachful glance from the teenagers.

"Yeah, great..." Max stated, taking a step backwards, but then suddenly stumbled barely saving himself from falling. "Hell...some evil boots you wear..."

And Phoebe would have laughed about it, if it hadn't been herself she saw walking like on ice.

"Max, this aren't heels, just regular shoes..." He glared at her, but they both weren't really in the mood for a fight...with their own impersonations.

"Let's think rationally" Phoebe finally announced."What is the first thing to do now?"

A short moment of silence followed.

"Tell mom and dad/not tell mom and dad" they said synchronously.

"What!?" Phoebe put her hands on her hips and stared at her brother."He is the only one who could help us and no, I'm not staying like this!"

Max rolled his eyes. Helooked ridiculous in this position, but nothing could be changed about it right now.

"You think I want to? I am a girl and worse, I am you!"

"Then, what's your plan!?" Max grabbed his notebook from the table and quickly checked some data. At last, he smiled.

"I got this" he stated. "Just take some time to order the chemicals..." And acting like usual, he typed in some orders, starting his computer system, eyes moving quickly while observing the screens.

"And just how long will that take?" Phoebe asked, still convinced telling her father was the better option.

"An hour, maybe two, maybe until tonight..."

"Tonight!?"

"Tomorrow, if you keep nagging instead of helping!" he spat back, angrily pushing the Phoebe's hair away which continued to fall into his face.

"You know what, it's enough. I'm asking dad..." his sister commented, heading towards the stairs.

"NO!" Max moved a chair with telekinesis to block her way. "If he finds out, he will kill me!" "What do I care?" Phoebe yelled back.

"I have an important date with Link today and I not gonna miss it because of you!"

For a moment she believed to see something like understanding in her brother's expression, but than an evil smile appeared on his...no, her face.

"As if dad would believe you, if I, his oh so precious daughter" he flipped his hair back in a exaggerating manner "would tell him otherwise..."

She shook her head in disbelief. "Lame. I can prove I am who I am"

Her brother laughed and it sounded even scarier out of her own mouth. "Wait, dear sister, I just started..."

Pulling out her phone of the pocket of his jeans, he flipped it open obviously searching for a number.

"For example, I could tell your boyfriend that I am not really interested in his" romantic" and boring dates..." he continued, causing her to panic slightly.

"Don't you dare to! You wouldn't...I mean, that won't work anyway!" But she knew it was too late. Her voice had already given away her uncertainy of which Max took easily advantage.

"OR...I could..." he grabbed some scissors from the table."How would you like it if I cut you beautiful hair?"

Making a squeaking sound Phoebe used her powers to force it out of his grip. "You the worst, Max, the worst!" she yelled at him, disappointed how he could threat her like this.

"Thank you. I'm really flattered. And for your information...I have many, many scissors."

Fixing him with her eyes, she saw it was useless. He wouldn't give up and for now, she had to give in.

"Fine!" she yelled. "Live your egocentric life if you want to, but if we go with your plan, you have to cancel my date finding a real good apology why you can't come AND..." Max ground at his sister's orders."...You will help Cherry with her science project today!"

"Can't we just tell her..." -"...and risk everyone at school finds out?"

"All right,but...I have work to do!"

Phoebe would have given everything to be able to slap her brother at this moment, but she wouldn't be so stupid to hurt herself. At least not physically.

"Maximus Octavious Thunderman!" she yelled, causing Max to roll his eyes as she was using his full name.

"You are such an idiot that you maybe won't understand it, but I promise you, if you don't do what I told you, you will regret it your whole life! I can ruin your's just like you can ruin mine!"

Realizing she meant what she said, he nodded backing away from her.

"Now get out!" she screamed.

Giving her a last stern look he started climbing the stairs. But then he turned around once more, the words leaving his mouth without thinking about it properly.

"Good luck with that! Won't be easy to find something to ruin!"

End of prologue

What do you think? What will happen next?

All the characters of course dont't belong to me and the idea of silblings switching bodies I actually got when I thought of an episode of Disney's American Dragon (still miss and love this show=)) where this happened to Jake and Haley XD. But it willbe very different anyway...you will see...;)


	2. Chapter 1: The world through your eyes

Hello everyone! Here comes the first chapter of "Hurray, It's Switch day!" which I hope you will enjoy. Thanks for the nice reviews, even though critic is also welcomed =). To "Julie": No, this isn't a slash fic and it's the same for my other stories involving Phoebe and Max. Enough talking, let's do some reading. And as I said, I'm always pleased to hear your opinion about it.

Chapter 1: The world through your eyes

"Hey Phoebe!"

Max didn't react as his mother called him crossing the kitchen without looking up. He still felt rather embarrassed about what he had just said which was also realized by Barb as she called her daughter again.

"Phoebs, sweety, is everything all right? You look sad..."

Pulling himself out of his trance he finally looked up, forcing a smile on his lips. "I'm fine, mom."

"Good, 'cause Cherry is already waiting for you outside..."

He nodded and opened the door.

"Hi Phoebs!" Cherry greeted him enthusiastically and not really knowing how to act insuspiciously, he hugged the girl, than kissed her on both cheeks.

"Oh...okay!" Cherry laughed, a bit surprised. "Love you too, bestie!"

She kissed him back. "Let's go!" Max nodded cheerfully following her out of the garden.

"You're being quite today..." his sister's fried commented proving his strategy maybe wasn't the best. But what in heaven's sake should he talk about?

 **In Max's lair:**

"He didn't...I mean...what!?"

Phoebe looked in a mix of confusion and shock after her brother, his words slowly sinking in. She turned around to meet Colosso's eyes.

"Did you hear that?"

But the bunny avoided her gaze, looking somewhere else."Maybe...not really."

Phoebe sat down on a chair thinking of the strange situation she was in. Never she had thought about what her brother did all day long when he wasn't with his band or at school. He probably built some machines, talked to Colosso... but what more?

To her it sounded boring to no end.

And suddenly she couldn't help wondering again if his comment had been completely exaggerated or if there was some truth behind it.

She tried to imagine being down here for hours- had this room always been so dark?-without company, isolated from everyone and everything. Sure, it was nice to be alone sometimes and have privacy, but Phoebe remembered days when she hadn't seen her brother at all!

Not that she cared.

As she tried to listen if she could catch something of Cherry's arrival, she realized another thing: Not a single sound left this place!

Fantastic, now she felt really alone...but Max seemed to like it this way. Excactly. And right now, she thought, he's probably already messing up my reputation everywhere he can, has forgotten about the mean and the strange things he had told her.

Nodding as if to convince herseof she had misinterpreted his goodbye, she decided to go up there to see what happened.

"Don't look at me like I'm crazy!" she snapped at Colosso, who was observing her in the most annoying, she had to admit, somehow intimidating way. Just because she looked like Max, she didn't have to live like him, she didn't want to live like him.

"Hey, my dear family!" Phoebe said as she entered the living room where Billy and Nora were playing with a skipping rope. They both turned around at her voice, looking incredulous and maybe even a bit scared at their older brother.

"Max!?" Nora approached her cautiously."You're okay?"

A bit taken a back by their reaction, she gave it another try. It couldn't be so hard to convince them she or better he could also be nice sometimes. "Of course. What are you doing? Can I help you with something?"

Billy who had obviously problems to liberate himself from the rope tangling himself more and more, seemed grateful for this proposal.

"Yeah, thanks Ma-" "NO, thank you!" Nora interrupted him quite loudly, shoving him in the direction of the door.

"We are fine."

"But I can't move my feet!" Bilmy complained again, giving his sister a confused look.

"Please...I swear, I won't do anything, just let me help you" Phoebe repeated again, quite desperate for them to believe her. She would'nt give up that easily!

But Nora just laughed nervously not showing any confiance at all.

"Mom!"she suddenly shouted. "Max is acting strange!"

Finally realizing she had gone too far, Phoebe immediately shut up. What if her clever little sister got already suspicious?

"Don't worry, that's just how he is, you know that" Barb yelled from the kitchen."

"Yes, but I mean more strange than usual!" Nora added still fixing Max alias Phoebe with her eyes as she slowly backed away.

"I gotta go..." she said hastily running up the stairs to her room. Her mistake was so obvious...it made even Billy wonder about his brother's behavior.

 **Meanwhile at school:**

"...And than Tara was like "Omg, Jake broke up with you!?" and then Jenny told her that they we're still together and that she just said it to make her feel better about her own breakup with Justin...you know? The one with the blue dreamy eyes? Anyway..."

Max literally could feel every muscle of his face trying with all his might to keep that silly grin up.

It just had been half an hour with Cherry, but he already had enough for the rest of his life. Did she just ever shut up!? Like ever!?

"Phoebe, you hear me?"

"Yes", he said quickly without a clue about what they we're talking. "Tell me more about it."

"Okay..." And there she goes, he thought suppressing a groan as he felt a headache coming up.

He hated this, but it was the only way to avoid her asking any questions. He just had to nod and agree while searching for the necessary chemicals concerning their little problem on the net.

"Are you texting, Link?" The other girl suddenly leaned over his shoulder to look at his smartphone.

Quickly he covered it with his hand.

"Ahem this...is quite private" he brought out hoping not to sound mean. And luckily the girl seemed to buy it. "

Okayy..." She knowingly winked at him. "Didn't want to interrupt your little sweet talk..." Oh my...

"Let's just finish this project..." Max motioned to the half finished model of the closer stellar system in front of them.

The items were nearly finished, but from experience he couldtell that it would take at least two hours more to glue it all together...plus the time they lost when Cherry got distracted. Like when...

"Oh, Phoebe, don't look up now, but Jonathan Piner just came in...maybe he doesn't see us..."

She sounded really preoccupied, what made him wonder what was the deal with this boy...who even he knew to be a total jerk.

"Why?" he whispered back, taking the risk asking a question about something Phoebe surely should know.

"Don't you remember!? He was really mean to you on Thursday...you were so angry about it!"

If it wasn't for his curiosity or the fact that, man, he hated Jonathan as well, he wouldn't have dared to ask more. It was actually not the cleverest thing to do, but...there's a time for everything.

"Yes...that idiot, what was he thinking!?" Max replied carefully, immediately getting the reaction he had hoped for.

"Well he wasn't! It's okay to flirt, but no is no! And anyway...I don't call that flirting! He was literally following, no stalking you all day..."

In this very moment Max had a sensation he never had had before making him go pale and clenching his fists under the table while Cherry told him what exactly Jonathan had said to his sister. In this very moment he felt nothing but blind fury hitting him which such force that he hardly could control himself, knowing that now wasn't the time for what he felt obligated to do.

His sister's friend had noticed the emotion on his face, naturally misinterpreting it's meaning.

"Hey...calm down Phoebe. He isn't worth it. I'm sure he won't bother you anymore..."

"You're sure?" a deep, greasy voice said from behind their backs, startling them both as they hadn't heard someone approaching.

"What-do-you-want!?" Cherry asked Jonathan in a dangerous voice, although she didn't manage to intimidate the boy.

"From you, blondie? Nothing!"

He took a step towards the girl he had to think was Phoebe, boldly laying his arm around her shoulders.

"But I wouldn't say no to this sexy lady..."

Max didn't even bother to answer.

He pushed Jonathan's hand away, than shoved him back with the other. Not too strong, but strong enough to surprise the guy.

"Whoa...can't talk like a normal person or what!?"

He seemed angry, but still wouldn't go away.

"You're the one who can't talk like a normal person, you jerk!" Cherry yelled at him while Max continued to fight his emotions. How should he react?

"Nobody asked you for you stupid opinion, bitch!" Jonathan approached once again, reaching out for Phoebe's shoulder.

"Stop it!" Max exclaimed looking the boy right into the eyes.

"Baby..." -

"NO! Listen to me now!"

Phoebe alias Max raised his voice quickly attiring the attention of everyone else in the room.

"I won't tell you twice- so better at least try to use your brain - as little as it might be- to concentrate!"

Jonathan looked at him with a surprised and shocked expression.

"I'm tired of your insults, your senseless comments and...yes, of seeing your idiotic face just one more second of my precious time."

Cheers and whistles could be heard in the classroom while the boy remained unable to respond or react at all. Who would have thought that Phoebe Thundeman, who was known for being always nice and polite, could taok to h like this!?

"So if you don't get yourself out of here right now..."

A dangerous gloom appeared in the girl's eyes.

"I will make sure that not just the whole school, not just your trainer, but even Bradford and your dear parents get to know what kind of games you're playing with girls like me."

"Yes, Phoebe!" someone shouted in the background and slowly Jonathan backed away, looking scared now under the angry glances of his classmates, before finally running out of the door.

Immediately Max, who was actually quite satisfied with himself, was surrounded by a group of admirers, patting him on the back and pronouncing their agreement concerning the hopeless case of Jonathan.

His sister sometimes just was too nice for her own good what probably came along with some stupid superhero codex.

Sometimes you need to embrace your dark side to get rid of a certain kind of people. There was no other way.

 **In Max's lair:**

"Oh, wow, look who is back!"

Colosso's voice couldn't have been more mocking as Max alias Phoebe came down the stairs, looking defeated.

"Will you shut up already !?" She really wasn't in the mood. Especially not after the lecture her mom had given her for sneaking up in" your sister's room", that was so unfair!

"Why can't Max come back, like right now?" she said to herself, falling down on her brother's bed. She wanted her old body back.

"Already giving up, are you?" Colosso asked her not without satisfaction.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that you completely failed to be your brother for one single day and it isn't even time for dinner."

Phoebe laughed humorlessly, sitting up to look him in the eyes.

"You mean that I'm failing to be a complete dork? Thanks, if you say that, it's a compliment."

Ignoring her comment, the bunny shook his head.

"For your information: Max is not only my friend, but also my student. And a soon to be successful and feared villain" Dr. Colosso stated provoking Phoebe to snigger.

"Yes, we all are soo afraid of him and his little machines!"

Her eyes fixed a round object laying close to his computer.

"For example this ball. It looks like something kids would use to play."

She grabbed it, bouncing it in her hands. It was lighter than she had thought, feeling surprisingly soft. "Correction, for little kids."

She threw it in the air, then catched it again, still not remarking anything special about it.

"Better be careful. It could explode!" Colosso suddenly shouted, making her immediately let go of the ball, jumping aside in fear.

Just then she realized the bunny was laughing.

"Oh girl, you're so easy to trick!"

Phoebestared at him in a mix of anger and confusion.

"Incredibly funny. So it doesn't explode!? It's actually just some piece of junk?"

But she didn't dare to touch the strange item again.

"No, no. It will when it's finished."

"Okay, if you two have fun doing such stuff..." she replied, heading to the stairs. "I'm out."

"Of course. You don't have the technical knowledge for this job anyway."

Phoebe stopped in her tracks.

"Oh, that's what you think?"

"No." Colosso was clearly enjoying this.

"That's what I know."

 **Cherry and Max on the way home:**

"This-was-just-great!"

Max had a bright smile on his face as he was walking down the street with Cherry whos talking was much more supportable when she praised him for his speech against Jonathan.

And besides, he had finally managed to order the last necessary chemicals for the counter reaction. He had a good feeling that now everything was going to work out just fine.

"What was great?"

And for the second time today, he hadn't noticed the boy who seemed to had followed them for at least one minute to catch up. Therefore he was breathing hardly, but he knew who it was anyway.

He had totally forgotten to tell him off!

"Hi Link!" Cherry greeted him friendly.

"I'm sure you're looking for Phoebe!" The other nodded happily looking at Max.

"I know we wanted to met at yours, but I was just in the mall to buy you..."

With a quick gesture he pulled out a bouquet of roses out of nowhere.

"For you, my angel!"

Hesitating a bit in a mix of shock and akwardness Max took the flowers in his hands.

"Thank you." he said quitely, his mouth going dry really quick while trying to figure out, how he could possibly flee Link's presence as quickly as possible.

"Don't be shy, my love."

Link reached out for him, offering to hold hands.

"Ready for our special date?"

End of first chapter

Thanks for reading!


	3. Chapter 2: A strange da(y)te indeed

Hello and hi to Chapter 2, no long explanations, just enjoy.

Chapter 2: A strange da(y)te indeed

When Max thought of all the strange situation he had found himself in, this was by far the weirdest. But certainly not in any adventurous or amusing way...

The thornes of the roses he still held in one hand, had already left scratches on his skin, nevertheless he didn't want to put them down. It was bad enough that Link had his right hand in his dead grip- he didn't like the idea of loosen the last bit of freedom he got.

"I'm so happy being with you" Link declared gleefully, swinging their hands back and forth in excitement.

"Yeah..." He couldn't even sound convincing anymore, but luckily Phoebe's boyfriend didn't pay too much attention to it.

"Can't you at least tell me where we're going?"

And maybe how long it will take or if you would accept being occupied as a...proper excuse, Max added in thought.

"Of course not, silly" Link smiled lovingly at the girl beside him.

"It totally would ruin the surprise I have been preparing for weeks and you can't really want that?"

He forced himself to laugh and realized that no, he of course didn't want to mess this up for Link...or Phoebe.

On the other hand, he couldn't just pretend to be his sister when the other boy was so...well emotional.

Only the imagination of what else Link might have in store for today, send shivers down his spine.

" Are you cold, love?"

Oh no.

"Let me help you."

And this was when a voice in his mind which strangely always reminded him of Dr. Colosso started to tell him that everything could be so much easier if he just wouldn't care, just leave Link standing there...

But no, of course again he was being weak, trying to please the others...

"Better?" Evilman's son had wrapped his arm around his waist, making it incredibly hard for him not to squirm or pull away.

It just felt so wrong. Uncomfortable. Weird. Akward. No need to continue.

"Everything all right?" Link looked at him with worry, realizing how tense Phoebe seemed today.

"Yess...no."

"Tell me" the other encouraged his girlfriend, compassion visible on his face while absently pulling her closer."

Just..." Max finally couldn't take it anymore and struggled free from Link's embrace. "I don't want...I can't..."

Witnessing how the expression of the boy changed into a sad and confused one, he cursed himself for speaking before thinking.

"It's complicated, but...it's a family thing and I really shouldn't be here right now, I'm sorry."

That wasn't even a lie, Max congratulated himself,but as expected Link wasn't satisfied easily.

"I...wow, I do understand, even though I really looked forward for today..."

He took her hand in his again, searching her eyes to read her emotions. "Did something bad happened?"

Max shook his head eagerly without knowing how to respond the questions which surely were to be asked all to soon.

"Don't you wanna at least talk about it...you know you can trust me, always."

Link felt a slight sting of disappointment.

Normally Phoebe was the one to insist that sincerity was the clue to a healthy relationship, that there was no space for secrets. So why was she acting so different now?

"Look...I swear you I tell you some other day, this has nothing to do with you..."

Max saw that Link was going pale, but he wasn't the type for such kind of conservations.

"See...you."

He turned around willing to leave the boy, but before he could get away, Link grabbed his hands, forcing him to make eye contact again.

"I told you once and I will tell you again: Everything about you is also about me...but okay."

He let go, a hurt and confused look on his face which Max couldn't miss.

Reaching out carefully, he gave Link a quick hug.

"Don't worry. I call you later."

At this the other's mood seemed to lighten a bit and he returned the hug. But nothing could have prepared Max for what was happening now.

"God, no!"

Link had leaned himself down to kiss Phoebe goodbye and Max jumped away in shock. Covering his mouth with his hands, he stared at the severely confused and angry boyfriend before him.

Link opened his mouth, just to close it again. Maybe he and Phoebe really had a problem here. "

Why won't you kiss me!?"

 **Meanwhile in Max's lair:**

"You know, maybe this thing is broken..."

Max alias Phoebe rubbed her hands over her shirt, trying to get rid of the black soot which her body was covered in. She wasn't happy with it, but at least it wasn't really her hair who looked like she wanted to imitate Einstein's hairstyle.

The sphere she had tried to activate, had been a real challenge, but in the end it had nearly worked...

"Phoebe, sorry, but you're total disgrace in fixing stuff!" Colosso proclaimed amused by the image of destruction she was giving.

"Well, it did explode..." she defended herself still trying to clean herself.

"Yeah...all over you!"

Why was she even talking to the villain!?

It was a lucky circumstance that Max's clothes were black, so that the flecks didn't attract much attention...

"Where is Max anyway?" she asked herself, checking her watch. Max had sent her a text message, that he would be home soon, but that had been an hour ago.

"Just admit already that he is a better villain than you!" Colosso insisted wanting to hear it from the girl herself.

Wishing to finally end this conservasation she decided to at least partially agree with him.

" Maybe. But Max isn't a great villain himself...He's a good boy on the inside and all this stuff..."

Phoebe motioned at the Dark Mayhem poster and the different monitors

"...or him pretending to be evil won't change this."

Seeing the condescending glance Colosso was giving her, she realized that he wasn't sharing her opinion at all.

"I mean..." she added, having the need to explain herself properly. "I don't wanna say that Max is talentless. Some of his inventions are even quite impressive. If he can build such things..." she pointed at the sphere on the table "...itshows that he really is smart and creative. But don't tell him I said that..."

She really hoped he wouldn't.

"All in all, he has the qualities to become a superhero. He is just using them wrong." Phoebe seemed rather convinced saying this.

"He just needs to believe a bit more in himself and overcome his fear of being the second best. Exactly."

Colosso who was observing her closely started to get the feeling that Phoebe was up to she would surely regret later.

Lost in thoughts the girl strolled over to Max's cupboard, searching for something she hadn't seen for a long time.

"...I think it could work... Mom and dad would be pleased about it...and Max..."

"Wouldn't! Never, Phoebe, never!" The bunny who saw his fears coming true, shook his head violently.

He couldn't let this happen!

"Yes, because he never tried it...if he sees it..."

Without hesitation she pulled the clothes she had been looking for out of a shelf.

"He just has to realize that he doesn't has to be afraid, that everything will work out fine."

Carefully undressing herself she didn't let any of Colosso's warnings irritate her. She had already made her final decision.

She would do this for her brother and change his life for good.

Smiling Phoebe finished dressing herself and took a step forward towards the speaking bunny.

"And...how do I look?"

The blue colour of Max's Thunderman costume with the bright yellow lightning on it was a total difference to the dark casual clothing the boy usual wore.

"Disgusting" was Colosso's only comment before he turned his head away. "Max will never forgive you this one."

She contemplated her broher's appearance in the mirror, feeling content the first time after the accident this morning.

This was her element and for what she was made to be.

"There's is nothing for what he has to forgive me."

And again Phoebe left the room, unaware what responsibility she was about to take on her shoulders.

 **Back to Link and Max, in front** of **the mall:**

"Why won't you kiss me!?" Link repeated, a hint of fury in his voice Max wasn't able to ignore.

"I...I'm sorry" he stuttered, but actually he wasn't.

The moment he had understood what the boy was up to, he hadn't even thought about staying in his role. His very first kiss wasn't going to happen like this. Not with a boy and especially not with his twin sister's boyfriend.

Staring at him with a blank expression, he waited for Link's reaction to come.

"I-I start to think we maybe have problem, me and y-you" The poor boy's was trembling with emotions he was trying to hold back so hard.

"Explain yourself, Phoebe."

There it was gone, gone the chance to maybe get around with this.

"I will Link."

Max looked him straight in the eyes to show he was serious.

"But first of all : I'm not Phoebe."

Silence.

"I'm Max and my sister and I accidentally switched bodies."

Link took a step backwards and it was clear he didn't believe him.

"Look, things went out of control and...we didn't want anyone to know...-"

"You've gone crazy or this is a trap!" Link interrupted him harshly. His eyes were scanning the surroundings like he expected a sudden attack.

"Link, listen, it's really just me!" Max kept the distance to don't scare the other, but it didn't seem to work out.

"Liar!" The boy screamed attracting the people's attention who were entering and leaving the mall.

"Tell me who you are! I'm not afraid!" A

little girl watched the scene with interest, pulling at her mother's hand. "Mommy, why are they fighting?"

"Don't look at them, Mary-Claire. We have nothing to do with such people. Or any teen's love trouble!"

She gave Max and Link a disapproving glance while pushing her daughter away from the shouting.

"Link, calm down! Please!"

"I won't!"

He seemed way to lost in his paranoia to listen to anyone or noticing the crowd around them.

"Someone planned this to get Phoebe and me seperated...oh my god...DAD!?"

Max facepalmed himself while the passenger's roaring laughter filled the air. He heard a woman talking about calling a doctor. The young man sure having hallucinations.

"Evilman, I'm nor your father!"

Whoa, he thought, how cool would it be to say that without the negation, Max thought, but he knew he had to focus on other things now.

"I can prove who I am. Just go somewhere else."

As Link wasn't moving, he realized that it was time for action.

"Follow me!" Max exclaimed running into the mall, Link close on his heels. If his sister's boyfriend wouldn't listen, he had to show him who he was.

 **At the Thunderman's, in the kitchen:**

Phoebe carefully had made her way to the kitchen, not wanting to be see by anyone but her father she wanted to surprise. It hadn't been actually hard to find them: The noises coming from the fridge were quite obvious.

"Dad." Phoebe had learned to sound so overexcited while impersonating her brother, but her dad didn't turn around.

"Hi, Max. You have any idea who put the chicken wings behind all the vegetables!? It can't get them out like that!"

"Yeah...no."

She was a bit disappointed he didn't payed her any attention, but when it came to food her father was a hopeless case.

"I need to tell about something. Something important."

Immediately Hank looked at his son, his eyes widening as he saw what he was wearing.

"Max? Why are you wearing your costume?"

He didn't smile, even though he was always hoping, but with his oldest son you could never be sure.

"I...think that maybe I will give up on all this villain stuff..."

She tried to speak like if she needed to overcome herself or this was scaring her a bit. And yes, her dad seemed to believe it.

"Really!?"

Phoebe nodded and than was pulled in a tight hug by her father.

"Oh my son! I'm so happy you told me!" Hank patted her back as a sign of how proud he was. "I know this wasn't easy for you."

She smiled at him seeing how happy she had made him.

"You look fantastic."

But than his expression changed to serious.

"But listen. You have a lot of training to do if you want to become a superhero. And you have to take this seriously."

"Of course, dad."

"I hope so. If this is a joke...well it better not be one."

A bit startled by the tone of her father, she just nodded again, feeling slightly intimidated.

"Good. We have a lot of work to do!" He motioned her to follow him in the living room where he pressed a special button of the remote.

"Initiating training's mode" the voice of their computer system announced.

"Ready to show what you got, my son?"

It was clearly noticeable that he was using this term to emphasize his new found confidenc in his first born.

"I am" Phoebe said knowing that her plan was working out. She only had to convince her brother.

 **In the mall with Link and Max:**

"Wait!"

Link was running after after him through the crowded mall, still unsure of what to think. Eventually Max stopped in front of some shoe store.

"Listen. Don't you remember how I stole a page of Phoebe's diary and found out about your little secret...or how you gave me what I thought was the ring of suffering, but was actually made of candy-still disappointed!-or the tennis match!?"

Max had spoken as quickly as possible to make Link shut up and slowly something like realization started to spread on his face.

"But...if you are...no, it just can't be!" Max let

Max let out a sigh of frustration, his original plan getting in sight again.

"You're such a sceptic, Link!"

He approached the store, pointing at the shop-window.

"You need some new sneakers?"

"What?"

"I said: Do-you-need-some-new-sneakers?"

"Well, yeah...but what does this has to do with..."

Link was confused, but Max had already entered.

In the next few seconds he heard several screams out of the store, saw a hat flying out of the door which a young man was chasing desperately, a little explosion, quickly followed by some smoke filling the room and than finally the one he was looking for appeared out of nowhere, holding said sneakers in his hands.

"See?" Link stared at him in disbelief.

"You didn't steal them, did you?"

Max rolled his eyes.

"No, that's how I always do my shopping...it's so entertaining...Of course I stole those! I'm a supervillain!"

"I...prove it!" Link had obviously made to many bad experiences living with his father and his numerous enemies.

"I show you."

Max walked in the store again,the sneakers still in his hands.

"Hey, guys! Tell me, did I pay for those? No? Exactly! Cause I stole them!...oh, hi officer..."

And as Link saw how the person who looked like Phoebe was leaded out of the mall by a police officer, hands pressed to her back and with that unique "I-got-busted" smile, he finally believed him.

"Hi Max!"

He had to laugh, leaving all the worries about him and Phoebe behind.

"Hi Link!" Max greeted back, still being pushed towards the exit.

"Took you long enough, you genius!"

And long it also took him to convince the mall police to let him go. But finally he managed to leave, telling them some story about a family emergency. The day couldn't be over soon enough...

Walking down the street, he realized that the ingredients must have been arrived by now, so that his mood lightened slightly as he stepped into their garden.

In an hour or two this nightmare would be over and no one was to get punished for anything. How wrong he was.

"Hi Phoebe!"

He stopped death in in his tracks, staring at his dad and...well himself in his Thunderman costume.

"Surprise, surprise!" his sister exclaimed, while his dad put a hand on her a shoulder.

"Your brother finally came to his senses! Isn't that great, Phoebe?"

"Great" he mumbled under his breath before quickly escaping the scene. The door slammed behind him as he let himself fall down on a chair closing his eyes in pure desperation.

Maybe, he thought, everything would come out as a silly dream, when he opened them again.

It just had to be one.

End of chapter 2

Thanks for reading! Review are appreciated.


	4. Chapter 3: Identity crisis

You waited for so long...but now the story continues! Thanks to my readers and reviewers. A long chapter for you today! Enjoy!

 **Chapter 3: Identity crisis**

"Wait..."

Phoebe looked after her brother, but her dad shook his head.

"Better leave your sister alone right now. I will talk to her later. Girls need their privacy sometimes."

She nodded, but still knew that this problem wouldn't solve itself. And...damn, it hadn't been planned like this. Max were supposed to be a little shocked at first, but not...well, she didn't meant him to run away. If he wasn't here, then how should he observe what she was trying to demonstrate for his own good?

"Come on, Max! You need to focus!" Hank suddenly told the boy beside him.

"A superhero always needs to be ready for everything! So don't you distract yourself..."His eyes got a bit softer as he saw the worried expression on his eldest's face. "Your sister will be just fine, I promise."

Phoebe nodded at this convincing herself Max maybe just had some thinking to do.

"Let's continue!" Her father voice was back from soft to serious. "Wanna see how good your reflexes are..."

And she gladly got in position, happy- although she wouldn't admit it- for any distraction which made her forget about that guilty feeling of her's.

 **Down in Max's lair:**

Neither Max nor Colosso spoke a word as the first mentioned came down the stairs, stumbling a bit at the last steps before sinking into his chair.

"Damn" he mumbled, pulling at his long hair which he still wasn't used to. Looking on the ground he spotted a box filled with the chemicals he had ordered.

"Phoebe must have put them down here when the postman arrived." he said loudly to himself lifting it on the table.

"Well, let's get this done."

Again he spoke like he needed to tell someone urgently, as if someone had asked for him to comment.

Grabbing the first vials hastily, he started filling a few drops of each into little Petri dishes to run several tests on them.

"Reaction 1, successful, amount of smoke as expected, no colour change..." he recited without looking up or writing it down. His brain was sufficient to memorize some observations like these.

"Extracting now original liquid from vial number 1-

"Max!" Colosso's voice sounded more than apologetic which provided what Max already had deduced: He had known about all this.

Ignoring his friend, he reached out for two gas burners who were stored under his table.

"Max, let me explain it..."

The boy slammed them on the table, his left hand getting hold of his favourite calculator...only to find out that the battery wasn't working. Doesn't matter, he thought, I have got others...

Opening the gas, he set the phosphors on fire...

"Max, stop it! I'm sorry for you, but stop pretending to be okay. I can tell you are not!"

His hands were shaking badly now, the fire dangerously close to his clothes.

"...I'm okay. I don't care. Like you told me to..." Max finally said still avoiding to meet the other's eyes, but Colosso didn't need to see his face. The thick voice of his friend, even though higher than usual, gave away all his emotions.

"I told you, but you never listened."

The blue flame erupted which such force, Colosso backed away in his cage while his student didn't move a second.

"This is a bit strong" he whispered under his breath, closing the air entrance with still trembling fingers. Everything seemed so unreal right now...the heat of the flames, the light illuminating his face...slowly he felt his sight getting blurred. Nevertheless, he continued to work. Hoping somehow to fix it like this, to change everything back with a simple reaction. But this wasn't chemistry anymore...it was physics. A final result. The liquid in the vials had started cooking, making a friendly blubbering sound, but today it wasn't comforting him. A moment he just stared at them in silence.

"Am I stupid? Stupid, because I couldn't...?" Max asked suddenly, approaching the bunny for the first time since entering the room.

The transformed human watched him closely. "You can't help it. This is your curse, Max..."

His mentor's words were ringing in his ears and he closed his eyes once again.

"But we get out of it for sure..."

Maximus Thunderman let out a hysterical, very untypical laugh, but it wasn't his fault that his voice sounded so different now...

He thought about his sister, his father and Link and how everything got out of control so quickly...He laughed,' cause this time, it just was too much.

 **Back in the kitchen:**

Phoebe and her dad had finished their training, but the girl hesitated to visit her brother. He sure was mad at her...but he would eventually understand or not? Was it to early to talk about it?

"Penny for your thoughts?"

Max alias Phoebe let out a little shriek as Nora suddenly appeared on the stairs. Her little face expressed innocence, but her older sister had known her long enough to know that behind this laser-shooting eyes she was sharp as a knife.

"Hey there Nora..."

"Hey _Max_..."

There was something wrong by the way she spoke her brother's name with emphasis making Phoebe more nervous by second.

"Heard you are on the superhero trip now?"

The boy next to her nodded, but waited for more questions to follow.

"All right." Nora smiled at him broghtly and turned as if to leave.

Letting out a breath she had been holding, Phoebe relaxed for a moment, but her sister had more in store.

"Max, can you do me a little favour?"

Nora had come back, asking sweetly for her brother's help.

"O-of course." Maybe Nora now trusted her more.

"Dad asked me to turn on the alarm system, but I always mix up the buttons..."

And she gave her the remote control which had been laying next to the TV.

"No problem, it's the red one."

Pleased to be able to help, Phoebe watched the screen appearing, making its usual sound while scanning the room.

"Thanks, Phoebe!"Nora said friendly.

"Nothing to thank for." her sister replied, seeing the little girl's eyes go wide.

Clapping her hands over her mouth, she realized what she had done. But maybe it wasn't to late...

"But...actually, you know I'm Max." She tried to make her voice sound as deep as possible.

"Yeah..." Nora kept her distance, then turned towards the screen.

"Computer, tell me, where are Max and Phoebe Thunderman?"

The older girl paled at this, but the answer of the system came to her rescue.

"Max Thunderman, current location: the living room."

"Yes!" Phoebe raised her fist in victory. "See, I told you so."

But Nora just gave her a warning glance. "Wait, brother dearest, just wait..."

The computer was searching for data again.

"Phoebe Thundeman, current location: ..."

And in this moment the other girl realized where this was going.

"...Max's lair."

Nora set one foot on the stairs as if she was preparing herself to run for help.

"Well isn't this interesting...what a coincidence that Phoebe is in your lair and you don't even care about it..."

The accused girl opened her mouth,then closed it again. It was useless to lie when Nora had already figured it out.

"Okay, before you tell someone...l-let's just talk about it...?"

"I was done talking when you told mom and dad that I hadn't finished homework yesterday evening and I couldn't play with Billy."

Her little sister seemed absolutely serious which wasn't to expected from a sweet girl at her age.

"But Nora..."

"MO-"

The older girl froze the younger one, stopping her from calling their parents just in time.

" Sorry Nora." Phoebe said, already thinking about the consequences, but maybe Max knew the answer...

"Nora, where are you?" Billy was calling somewhere in the background and approaching really fast...luckily without using his powers. She had to get her away right now! Uniting her two thoughts to one, Phoebe levitated Nora, opening Max's trapdoor with her foot.

"And down we go..."she said a bit worried, holding her sister with both arms as she jumped on the slide.

 **In Max's lair:**

"What the heck!?" Colosso shouted at the loud crash as both girls landed on the bed, Max alias Phoebe nearly falling over as she tried to keep statue Nora from rolling to the ground.

Also Max had looked up at the sudden arrival, but as he had seen who it was, he had preferred to continue his work on the remedy. No one should distract him now, he didn't wanted to talk.

"Max! I just froze Nora, 'cause she found out what happened!"

His sister's voice was full of panic, but he stayed completely calm.

"And did she tell?"he asked her, sounding disinterested and annoyed at the same time.

"No...But what are we supposed to do now?"

Phoebe looked at him in expectation, but he just shrugged his shoulders.

"Nothing."

"I'm sorry, what...? "She sure had misunderstood, because if someone was a specialist in messing up stuff without getting punished, it was her brother.

"Nothing." Max repeated with determination.

"Andnow please just leave me alone."

She stared back at him in confusion. This sounded nothing like him.

"Max, I know you're mad at me, but come on! You were the one who decided we won't tell anyone..."

No reaction.

"Max if she tells, we might get into problems!"

Silence.

"Yeah...we won't get each other into problems, won't we?"

Although Max had spoken very quietly, the sarcasm wasn't to be overheared. Making a groaning sound Phoebe walked to her brother, grabbing his shoulders to turn him around. "What's your problem?"

She shook him a bit to get his attention, but his facial expression lacked of any emotions.

On the other side, he was very pale, she noticed, just like he was feeling sick.

"Max..."

"If you don't know, what's the problem, you no nothing about me."

He put on the protective googles and opened some new vials from the box. Phoebe herself didn't know what to say. So she just had to ask again.

"Maybe, if you explain it...we can talk about this, 'cause I really thought I was doing you a favour..."

"A FAVOUR!?" Max finally exploded, slamming his fist to the table.

"I thought this was some kind of revenge, but how in all world was this supposed to do ME a favour!?"

Phoebe wasn't scared of her outraged brother, but was clever enough anyway to keep a certain distance to not make him feel more suffocated in progress.

"Well..." she started hesitantly, unsure if her brother was able to listen at all in his anger.

"I thought if you see...how you look like a superhero, how proud dad would be and how easily he accepted this decision, I could help you to overcome...your supervillain phase..."

Colosso snorted at this, while Max was looking to the ground.

"...So that you see there's nothing to be afraid of..." she finished searching her brother's eyes.

"Shit." he mumbled hiding his face in his hands. "You really doing it again. You bother more about my life than yours..."

"But that's just because I care!" Phoebe exclaimed not really sure what she had done wrong. "Max, talk to me."

He really considered freezimg her too so that she would stop nagging, but maybe, he thought, if he didn't tell her off now, she would get herself involved again.

"So...if Cherry is afraid of hights, you climbing a tower makes her feel safe? Or if Nora is afraid of the dark and you go into a dark cave, she won't be anymore!?"

Max still was agigated, even though he tried hard to speak calmly. Phoebe on the other hand seemed eager to defend herself.

"That's not the point..."-

"No, Phoebe this is how your logic works. What you feel, the other must feel. What you believe in, I'm going to believe too. Simple, but you know..."

She backed away from the dispair in her brother's gaze.

"I am my _own_ person. I live my _own_ life."

With that Max turned around, holding on to the table as if he wanted to study his calculations. He couldn't wait to get his body back.

"Max...I know that you're you. I think you are just confused."

"Because I dont want something you want!?"

"I...no, but you told me yourself, that you are scared of not being a good superhero...you just confirmed it minutes ago!"

Phoebe didn't want to sound like a know-all, but it came out before she really had thought about it.

"And...are you _happy_ now!?" Max was restraining himself a lot to not throw his Math book at his sister. Why couldn't she shut up already?

"Of course, I 'm not. You should be more confident about your powers and..."

"My powers!? This has nothing to do woth my powers, my brain or anything comparable."

Now she was really getting confused. "But you said..."

"I can't be, 'cause it's not what I believe in. I hate this superhero thing!"

Max spated the words out as if they were venom, like just the mention of it was already too much.

"So you hate your parents, your sister, your brother and me!? You don't hate us..."

Phoebe felt hurt by what her brothers had said, but she knew he was exaggerting, because even if she maybe didn't know his thouhgts, she still knew his heart.

"Of course not. Even though you made a real effort today."

He filled the steaming liquids into another empty vial.

"But I..." Max stopped not sure what he had wanted to say. He felt braveless and exhausted from their fight and the things which were to follow didn't help at all to make it better.

Seeing her brother getting pale again, Phoebe carefully tried to appraoch him.

"Max..." she spoke very softly. "Tell me what you are thinking..."

He stared at her, in his own face, but no...the expression clearly belonged to Phoebe. His mouth felt dry and he found himself unable to speak.

"Max...tell me just today, just one time, the truth, do you really wanna be a supervillain?"

Phoebe had asked herself for long if her brother was serious about this or if he maybe had changed his opinion and pride forced him to keep up with this story. Colosso lifted his head at her words, looking expectantly at his student. Would he say yes?

But he didn't. He shrugged his shoulders, starting to walk up and down the room like it was a prison he wanted to escape.

"Then you wanna be a superhero?" Phoebe continued, happy and hopefull after her brother's last response.

Again he shrugged.

"How can you not know that!?" Phoebe exclaimed, letting herself get frustated with her twin who couldn't make such a basic decision.

Max opened his mouth, but just brought out a chocking sound.

He didn't know what he wanted and everybody had to force him in the direction which seemed the most suitable in their opinion...not in his.

His parents wanted him to be competetive, brave, constantly presenting himself as Thunderman's son.

He had to live their lifes, their rules, their responsibility he maybe wasn't ready to handle.

Memories from their time in Mertroburg filled his head, when he had no friends, when other children wouldn't stop bragging about their dads and worse themselves. Where the costume not only revealed your origin, but your future. Where no other interests were understood and everybody lived after the rules without ever questioning them. Where being good was not good enough. Where there was black and white and nothing in between.

On the other hand...he wasn't sure about the villain carreer either. Especially not if it meant that there was no space for love and friends in his life. And Max needed them, especially now, when he finally felt accepted by his classmates like never before.

Was he really liberating himself or was he just forcing himself to be aperson he wasn't, obeying others, like Dark Mayhem, instead of a superhero conceal?

He felt like he couldn't go forward nor backwards, unsure what his aims were and were he belonged.

"I just don't know, okay!?"

"But..."

"I need time to figure it out!"

Max sounded angry at this, brooding about the fact that she already had made a choice today, leaving him to play a role in their little family game he had resisted to play for a long time now.

But she was wrong.

He wouldn't do it.

Phoebe didn't answer this time and just pointed at the table. "Are you done wih this?"

She didn't sound all to friendly, but not as mad as usual after one od their fights.

"I am."

"Then let's do this." she ordered firmly and so he did.

"Okay, this will be go much quicker than the first one" he announced adding one little drop of something to the vial which inmediately produced a great amount of smoke. Within seconds it covered both of them, making them feel hot and dizzy.

"Max, is this right?" he heard Phoebe asked slightly scared, but instead of answering he just waited for the little explosion moments later sending them both to the ground and ending the work of the counterreaction.

Coughing Phoebe was the first one to get up.

"Is that me?" she asked, staring at her now more delicate hands while gladly listening to her original, high voice.

"Max?"

Her brother had also stood up and was now getting rid of his Thunderman costume at fast as he could manage.

"Yes?"

"We're both back to normal!" Phoebe said, hoping to cheer him up a bit.

"I know."

He didn't smile, just sat down on his bed.

"Well, isn't that what you wanted? No one will ever find out!"

But Max shook his head.

"I gonna have to tell dad about this. I'm not a superhero."

Phoebe looked at hin like he was crazy. Her brother Max, mischievous to no end, would confess this to their father? Not a plan, not an idea to get himself out?

"This isn't necessay. You could...just have changed your decision."

"Yeah...exactly. Of course. I'm such a big disappointment to this family anyway that no one will be surprised anymore..."

"That's not true!" Phoebe interrupted him alarmed, not liking the way her brother talked about himself.

"It is."

She shook her head fiercly.

"No! Didn't you see today that..."

"That my own father knows me so little he doesn't realize that the person he was training all afternoon wasn't his son? That he only has interest in me if I do what he planned for me? That you could..."he gripped a pillow tightly with his hands, knowing he couldn't stop talking anymore. "...easily replace me for our parents in one day, being a better son than I will ever be!? Well, yes. Thanks for the demonstration!"

He threw the pilliw at her, covering his face with his hands.

"Max..." She felt really ashamed of herself now.

"...You talking nonsense and you know that. You're just exaggerating out ofthe mood..."

There was a pause before Max answered, which Phoebe used to study his face. But she couldn't find any hint of guilt from lying to her.

"It's really simple Phoebe, even you should realize that dad only wants one thing: make us superheros like himself and mom. It's the only possible option ,the only right one since the day we were born. Anything else is not accepted...or at least not worth a discussion."

He looked her straight in the eyes, his voice serious, but really quiet.

"But I am not letting myself get forced into something I don't want. No...It..."

It seemed that he was talkimg more to himself than to his sister now, his voice just a faint whisper

"...it doesn't make me happy."

Phoebe didn't know what to say, feeling overwhelmed by the sudden outburst of her twin brother. Could she have missed all that?

She thought of at least telling him she was sorry as a sudden noise of something falling to the ground startled them both.

"Nora!"

"Oops..." The little girl had obviously freed herself and was standing at the back of the room a broken vial to her feet.

"Sorry...it fell down when I got up."

The twins looked at her in confusion as they had expected an angry, no outraged Nora, not a polite apology.

All in all, it seemed that their sister had liberated herself a long time ago...the water on the floor was already drying and she said that she had been sitting down...why hadn't she said a thing!?

"Just...how much did you hear, Nora!?"

The girl carefully approached the two of them. "Enough."she said and before Max could open his mouth, she added:

"Don't worry, I won't tell about the switch if you want to do it."

He nodded weakly, not meeting her soft eyes which were fixed on her brother, showing sympathy and worry at the same time.

"See you later..." She turned to the stairs, but then stopped and hurried over to give Max a hug.

"It will be allright, you know? I love you Max!"

He smiled at her stroking his hand over her hair.

"Thank you Nora. Love you too."

She released him and motioned for Phoebe to come with her. The older girl was grateful for this.

"See you later, Max."

Then they were gone.

"Colosso..."

"Maybe not a supervillain, hm?"

He looked at him in disbelief.

"Can you please just stop!? Be my friend and not my mentor today, okay?"

And he knew after the discussion with his father he would be in need of a friend. A really good friend.

"Okay. Just as an exeption..."

"Thank you. Now...I as well pack my things." He said trying to cheer up at least a bit. "Spain sounds nice, ya think?"

 **In the evening:**

Dinner was a quiet affair and even the parents didn't seem able to break the silence...it was more than suspicious.

"Well...Nora dear how was your day?" Barb tried again, feeling extremly uncomfortable with no one talking. What had happened?

"Eh...not much. Billy and I played hide and seek..."

"And I searched for two hours!" Billy mumbled angrily while playing with the food on his plate.

"I said I was sorry." Nora gave back, but he didn't react.

"Hey, hey, cheer up kids! At least Max made a big step today, right son?" Hank announced hoping t lighten the mood while patting Max on the shoulder. The boy stopped eating his eyes fixed on the table.

"We're so happy, Max!" his mom added, looking at him with pride.

"But why you don't try anything of the salat I made, sweety?"

Max felt more miserable by second. What kind of son was he, disappointing his paterents like this...

"No thank you. I...don't have mich of an apletite today..."

Inmediately he saw concern appear in his father's face.

"What? You sure? After all the trainging we did today?"

Just now he had realized how white his eldest had gotten and Barb stood up and went over to him.

"You don't look so good neither, baby..."

She tilted his chin up to look him in the eyes. "Everything all right?"

Everybody stared at him and Phobe looked like she really wanted to interfere, but didn't know how to.

Slowly Max started to speak: "I...I need to talk you, dad..."

Hank froze as how ashamed and guilt ridden he sounded.

"Max what happened?"

"I...did something really stupid..."

His father's face fell at all the imaginations which were caused by this statement.

"Please can I talk to you alone?"

Hank nodded firmly and motioned him to come over, while the eyes of all the others followed them.

"Max...wait!" Phoebe adressed her brother just as he was about to leave the kitchen.

"We should do this together. It's not only your fault...but also mine!"

"Someone tell me what's going on!" Barb exclaimed loudly, but Max wasn't taking Phoebe's offer.

"I need to do this alone." He quickly went away to avoid any further questions. He just wanted to get over with it.

 **A few minutes later:**

"Oh damn, I can't just sit here!"

Phoebe got up from the table, ignoring the looks of the rest of the family.

"Phoebs, I think you should leave them alone!" Barb called out, but her daughter was already gone. Carefully she approached the dormitory of her parents, listening to the voices behind the door.

"Is this everything!?"

Her father sounded furious and it was clear to her that Max just had made his confession.

"Yes. I...really didn't mean to, but...-"

"Enough of this! You endangered your's and your sister's life Max! And I hope you know that there's no excuse for this!"

Phoebe flinched at her dad's severe voice - he was nearly screaming.

There was silence for a moment. None of them spoke and she could actually sense the tension.

"...You're grounded Max. But what does it matter!? You're not lisening to us at all. What...tell me what shall I do with you!? What needs to happen to you before you stop this idiocy of yours?"

Again no answer.

"You can go."

The disappointment was clearly shining through his voice and quickly Phoebe backed away to not to be seen by her brother. She waited for him in the living room.

"Max?"

Her twin didn't look at her.

"Leave me alone Phoebe."

He openedd his lair with his hands what she interpreted as a prove that he was reay down, not using his powers.

"I'm sorry Max!" She nearly begged for his attention. Suddenly he lifted his gaze.

"Me too, but it can't be changed."

Phoebe felt her a sting of guilt once again. Her brother looked vulnerbale like never before, his eyes sparkling with tears he was fighting back from falling.

Without another word he let himself fall on the slide. "Good night" she said weakly, although she knew that his would be hardly possible.

She didn't think she would be able to sleep tonight...how in all the world were they going to fix this?

End of chapter 3

OMG...what have I done? What will happen now? Thanks for reading and leaving reviews! Sorry for any grammatical or spelling mistakes!


	5. Chapter 4: You just need to remember

Okay...I'm sorry that it took so long, but here it is! The final chapter! (So post a review =)) Nothing more to say...enjoy!

 **Chapter 4: You just need to remember…**

"This is so messed up!"

Phoebe was so occupied with everything that was going on in her life that she didn't pay attention to the teacher at all, analysing the situation again and again to find a solution.

"If you would _finally_ tell me what's that all about, I maybe would be able to help you…" Cherry whispered back while checking her phone for text messages.

Greek philosophy wasn't her favourite class, but her best friend usually loved it! Why couldn't she just calm down?

"I can't" the other girl repeated insistently while looking at the watch on her wrist, hoping she could finally go home.

"Do you know when the mall does open today?"

Confused, but pleased by the sudden change of subject, Cherry smiled widely at her.

"Well from 9 a.m. till 9 p.m., wanna go this afternoon? I really look forward to buy one of…-"

"Sorry, but…I can't wait any longer."

Ignoring the girls irritated expression, Phoebe raised her hand.

Of course the teacher believed her and dismissed her to sickbay.

And of course she wasn't going there.

"I always thought skipping school to be more fun…" she mumbled while walking towards a certain store.

 **Later, down in Max's lair:**

"Max , you're already here?" Phoebe asked surprised and worried when finding her brother home so early. "You didn't go to school?"

"No, no", Max continued to type something on his laptop while speaking.

"I was there. Then I told Oyster about missing our gig this week which…kinda ruined the mood."

He looked up to her while shrugging his shoulders. "What shall I say? School is boring anyway."

His gaze fell on his alarm clock making him realize that indeed school still wasn't over.

"Why are _you_ here?"

He didn't think he remembered his sister missing a class since…well actually it never had happened before.

"I bought you this. To cheer you up."

Not quite knowing how to react, Max didn't respond, carefully reaching out for the bag Phoebe was passing him.

"It's some stuff you like. Some sweets, some magnets I know you collect and…"

Max eyes had gotten wide as he had discovered a colourful cover in between all the stuff.

"You bought me…the "Cosmic Adventure 3D video game"!? That's crazy! It costs more than 100$!"

"Well..you're welcome." Phoebe said happily, glad her plan had worked out.

If her brother would distract himself for a bit until the situation had cooled down, it would probably for the best…

"Wow! Thank you…" Smiling she approached him laying her hands on his shoulders.

"Don't get used to it."

He laughed, but then stopped thinking about it once more…

"You don't have lessons now?"

Oh no…, she thought, talking about school was going to remind Max about his band and that was not what she wanted right now. He had done enough brooding in the last two days…

"No…I…have you heard about Jonathan Piner running into the girls bathroom this morning screaming "Help! Someone's following me!"? It was an accident, but still…"

She couldn't help to feel a certain malicious joy remembering the boy's face as he followed director Bradford into his office.

"I bet it was priceless."

"Oh, yes…he is such a jerk."

Max nodded in agreement, but suddenly Phoebe witnessed a knowing smile on his lips.

"Max…? You have nothing to do with this, don't you?"

"Me!?"

Max tried to look as innocent as possible.

"Never. It would be too much of an effort…"

…if it hadn't been for a good reason, he added silently for himself, letting his sister ruffle his hair.

Yeah, he was still good…at being evil.

 **Meanwhile in the living room:**

"Daddy?" Nora addressed her father who was sitting on the couch reading some documents.

"Oh hi Nora", he smiled, but to the girl it seemed a little forced.

The last days hadn't been easy for him as well.

"You…saw Max today?"

"Yes, at breakfast."

The answer was short and she knew immediately he still didn't want to talk about it.

But enough was enough. If no one was going to open up about all this, she would have to do it.

"I really think you two should discuss what happened."

"There's nothing to discuss, Nora. I appreciate that you try defending your brother, but what he did endangered…"-

"You don't understand him!" she interrupted him more boldly than she had planned to, upsetting her father a bit.

"I'm sorry, dad. But…you need to…I wanna show you something."

Ignoring his questioning look, she let herself fall down next to him pulling out her cellphone.

"A video?"

She nodded still feeling a bit guilty making this decision on her own. Would Max be very angry with her?

"I took it when I was down in Max's room and he and Phoebe were fighting. He doesn't know I recorded it…"

Hank's eyes widened slightly at the careful manner Nora used to explain the circumstances to him.

"And why should I see this?"

"You'll see."

Bravely she pressed the play button, knowing that this wasn't to be too pleasant for her dad.

Listening slowly a deep frown appeared on Hank Thunderman's face and soon he stared absolutely shocked at the screen. Then it was over.

"Dad?" He shook his head, looking more than extremely uncomfortable. He was just ashamed…of himself.

"Thanks for sharing this sweety. Please go and search your brother for me."

Yes, now they really needed to talk.

 **In Max's lair:**

"And guess who wins-a-gain!" Phoebe laughed at her brother's face as he kicked his character out of the third level again…who would have known she was that good playing this game?

"Not fair." he stated, but actually he knew he had lost.

"Yeah…because you were using cheat codes! Don't think I didn't notice!"

Rolling his eyes in amusement Max put the controller down, going to check something on his laptop.

"I probably used the wrong ones…"

Her brother was still the same.

"Max?"

Turning around they saw Nora climbing out the slide, looking a bit nervous. "What is it?"

"Dad wants to see you."

Phoebe saw his smile vanishing within seconds, but soon he regained his calm nodding at his younger sister and making his way to the stairs.

"See you."

And he was gone.

Damn, his twin thought, why did that had to happened just now when she had managed to make him feel better…

Scanning the room her eyes fell on all her brother's inventions, machines and what she feared were weapons. Couldn't they help her somehow?

"Max…why haven't you invented a time turner? Then I could go back and fix this."

But of course this was impossible. They just would have to wait until their dad forgot about all this…suddenly her eyes fell on something on a shelf.

"That's it!"

Grabbing it quickly she hurried over to Colosso who was sleeping in his cage.

"Colosso, wake up! You need to explain to me how the "Brainmelt 3000" works!"

 **Back in the living room:**

"Dad?" Max asked as he entered the living room, concentrated tin making his voice sound normally.

"You called for me?"

Hank just nodded pointing on the free space next to him, indiciating his son to sit.

"Look at this." His voice was thick as he passed Max Nora's smartphone not able to look him in the eyes.

"Why?" the boys asked, but as there was no answer, he just did what he was told to...only to be startled by his own resigned voice coming from the phone.

 _"I gonna have to tell Dad about this. I'm not a superhero."_

 _"This isn't necessary. You could...just have changed your decision."_

"Dad...what's that? Why...?" Max was horrified by thinking about his dad to know about all this. He really wished to be invisible right now.

 _"...I'm such a big disappointment to this family anyway that no one will be surprised anymore."_

Max had to gulp at this himself, feeling ashamed about his outburst. Suddenly he felt his fathers hand reaching out for his left one, gripping it tightly.

 _"...my own father knows me so little he doesn't realize that the person he was training all afternoon wasn't his son? That he only has interest in me...-"_

Max had pressed on pause, unwilling to let this go on.

"Well..." he felt extremly uncomfortable with the whole situation as he adressed his father.

"Sorry you heard that. I was exaggerating...okay?"

Weakly trying to pull his hand away he saw his father's eyes shining with emotion, worry and ...was that guilt?

Unable to free himself out of his dad's grip, he tried to stand up and turn away to show he wanted to leave.

But that just resulted in Hank to use more pressure. And if Thunderman uses a bit of strenght, it easily could go wrong.

"Dad...stop, you're hurting me."

Hank let him go inmediately but stopped him from walking away by standing up himself now, carefully turning him around.

"Max..I'm so sorry." His son tried to smile while shurgging his shoulders.

"You're literally the strongest person on earth. It happens to everyone...-"

"I didn't mean just that, Max, and you know it!"

Pulling his son in his arms, Hank couldn't hold himself back anymore from apologizing. How could he had let all this things happen? How couldn't he not have realized that there was something wrong with Max?

The teenager himself returned the hug shyly, allowing his father to rub his back still hoping they wouldn't need to talk this out.

"I never wanted you too feel unloved or less important or..."Hank was fighting for words, but again Max interrupted him.

"Dad, I love you and I know that you love me." But still...

"If it's so, then do you know that the only, really, the only thing which is important to me is that you're happy? Even if you won't become a superhero?"

Max's eyes widened at this. All he could do was stare at his father finding himself unable to nod.

"Max...I didn't realize I was pressuring so much! You should be able to chose yourself which also includes feeling free to talk to us about _everything_ that is bothering you! How long have you been feeling like this?"

His father's voice was trembling while asking himself that very question.

"It's all my fault." he continued.

"I thought everybody in this house felt save enough to communicate his fears and worries, but it seems like I made a big mistake there."

Max was staring at the ground now, not knowing how to react or how to stop the emotions which started to take over his body.

"Please say something Max. Tell me the truth."

Still there was no reaction.

"Tell me...is this the whole reason for this villain stuff?"

Max kept his position, desperately searching for something to come up with. But it was like his mind was frozen and his lips weren't moving.

Just as his father put a reassuring hand on his shoulder once more, he finally broke down.

"I didn't wanted... all this..." He had started to cry without a warning, chocking a little at the few words he brought out.

"I...I thought...no one ever took me seriously..."

A part of him knew that he needed to get this out or remain silent forever.

"That's why I d-decided to show y-you , but you and mom just didn't care!"

He exclaimed the last statement flinching slightly as his dad just held him tighter.

"You would just think I am a joke...a-and when I told you about...wantin' to be a supervillain you just _didn't_ react..."

"But Max, we wanted you to make your own experiences..."

He stopped as he heard his son sobbing even harder.

"It...it felt like you...you don't give _a damn_ about me."

Hank felt dizzy. It was so easy actually...all this time he had wondered about what exactly Max had in mind as he started his rebellion, but...it all seemed so logical now!

He had wanted to get their attention, to see if they believed in his powers, expecting them to focus more on him and talk him out of his clearly wrong ambitions. Then excaclty the opposite had happened.

"I'm sorry Max. I was so stupid." He tried to calm him down, holding him while carefully tracing his hands over his back.

But even though he made an effort it was really hard for the boy to regain his calm after this.

"Max, we care so much about you. We really thought we were good parents by letting you try yourself ..."

Even from his mouth Hank had to admit that it sounded ridiculous to say that. Man, what had they been thinking?

"I-I needed your help..." Max said weakly feeling his strenght leaving him quickly.

"I was so scared back then and so... so confused. The other kids laughed at me at school about being a poor superhero...and I b-believed them!

...I couldn't take this...all this showing off and the competition...I-I just was not strong enough..."

Hank carefully lifted his son's chin to look him in the eyes.

"You're _so strong_ Max, don't you think I know? And not because you're a Thunderman. You showed your braveness many times..."

But Max shook his head, not agreeing with his father.

"I'm not brave. I was scared so many times."

Hank took his hands in his making him look up once more.

"Max...this message comes way too late, but: _Fear is human._

I never expected you to be perfect or let's say different. You're perfect to me. Just like you are."

Max was glad he finally had stopped crying as he felt a heavy weight being lifted from his shoulders, givng his dad a little, but oh so gratefull smile.

"Thanks dad."

His father kept his arms around him, not thinkig he would ever be able to let go again.

For a moment non of them spoke a single word, not knowing what to do now.

Checking his watch, Hank finally thought of something: "Wanna watch the football match with me?"

"Yes."

Leaning his head against his dad's shoulder as the game started, he felt exhausted, but also very relieved. Actually, he felt like himself again.

"But Max..." His father adressed him once more. "You're still grounded, boy."

 **Down in Max's lair:**

"And done!"

Phoebe lifted the Brainmelt from the table, looking proudly at the machine.

"And this really makes dad forget about everything that has happened in the last few days?"

"Yes, of course" Colosso repeated again, not unimpressed by Phoebe's sucess.

"See, I'm not so bad at this as you thought."

The bunny rolled his eyes at her, but admitted it nevertheless. "Yeah...maybe."

She smiled heading to the stairs.

"Ready to turn everything back to normal", she announced quietly, carefully pushing the door open.

Her dad wasn't in the kitchen, so he might still was talking to her brother.

Slowly approaching the living room, she heard the sound of the television...probably her father was watching sports. This was the perfect.

Hiding the helmet behind her back she slowly entered...

"Hi Phoebe."

Oh no.

"Dad...I-" She stopped as she witnessed her brother half asleep in their father's arms. A wide smile spread on her lips making her feel all warm inside. Had they finally made up?

"What are you doing here?"

"Well...uhm..."

"Phoebe stole my Brainmelt 3000, it's behind her back. But I certainly don't know why. Please give it back."

Both were startled at Max's sudden comment and her dad stared at his son for a moment, before turning his attention to his daughter once more.

"Is that true, Phoebe?"

She sighed knowing there was no way out of it now. "Yes kinda. But I don't need it anymore."

She revealed the helmet to her dad who took a close look and...

"Give me that."

Surprised, Phoebe handed it to him. Her dad had never shown so much interest in Max's inventions.

"That's pretty awesome."

Her twin inmediately sat up a bit, happy about his father's compliment.

"It's working with electro magnetic fields who stimulate certain parts of the brain..."

"See, see, haven't we a real Einstein here", his dad patted him on the back making Max's smile grow with his actions.

Phoebe just watched the two man with satisfaction. No, she never wanted to forget that. Talking about that...

"Could this thing make me forget about the horrible match I just saw?" Hank asked his son who laughed at this.

"Of course, you should know that... but why horrible? We won!"

His father shook his head in amusement.

"We lost Max. Our team are the tigers, not the eagles."

"Really...?"

"Yeah...that's something you should know." Hank pulled him close once more. "But don't worry son, I'll teach you."

THE END

Finally! Many wanted Max to talk to his parents and here it is. I hope you liked it! Leave a review, if you want to. And thanks to everyone reading and commenting this story.


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